Keith Olbermann

Rachel Maddow won’t be joining her old friend Keith Olbermann on Current TV, after all. The liberal commentator and East Bay native has signed a new multi-year deal with MSNBC to rmain at the cable network.

Her new contract will reportedly keep Maddow at MSNBC well beyond the 2012 presidential election, but Maddow was deliberately vague when questioned about it.

“It’s for a few years. That’s all I’m saying,” she said.

The signing puts an end to speculation that Maddow might bolt MSNBC to join Olbermann at Current. But she indicated that was never really a viable option.

“I haven’t talked to Keith since he left (MSNBC) and I know some people will read things into that,” she said. “I still consider him a friend. We both have just been really busy.”

During the MSNBC session, Maddow, who grew up in Castro Valley, spoke of how she never expected a career in media. She was working as a landscaper, when she tried out (on a dare) for a gig with KRNX radio in Holyoke, MA. Now, she ranks as one of the dominant personalities in all of cable news.

Liberal commentator Keith Olbermann was back on cable television last night, bolstered by his usual brand of anger, arrogance, snark and fire-and-brimstone preachiness.

In introducing the new edition of “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” on Current TV, he told viewers that “this is to be a newscast of contextualization that is to be presented with a viewpoint that the weakest citizen in this country is more important than the strongest corporation, that the nation is losing its independence through the malfeasance of one political party and the timidity of another …”

(There may have been a period in there somewhere, but it’s often hard to tell when Olbermann unleashes one of his windy rants).

Olbermann, who abruptly quit his popular MSNBC show in January, headlined a new “Countdown” that looked and felt very much like the old one — including the same title, same segments (“Worst Persons”), music, and a lineup of guests that just happened to agree with the host.

His outlet is dramatically different, though. Olbermann has gone from a well-known cable channel that was part of the vaunted NBC news organization, to Current TV, the small and obscure network co-counded by Al Gore that
averages only 50,000 viewers during prime time.

Current is counting heavily on Olberrmann to boost its profile. In ads touting the “new” Current TV, the channel was said to “create the commentary that drives the truth.”

During his comeback show, Olbermann, as usual, fired away at conservatives, but also questioned President Obama’s strategy in Libya. Additionally, he bashed Monday’s Supreme Court decision in the Walmart case and took some shots at his old network.

Along the way, his guests did their best to stroke his ego.

“I’m honored to be your first guest on your first show,” filmmaker Michael Moore told Olbermann. “… You’ve been missed by a lot of people.” Later, Markos Moulitsas, founder of the liberal Web site Daily Kos, called the host “a national treasure.”

Toward the end of the program, this national treasure made it clear that he wouldn’t be hemmed in by traditional TV time slots. His first show went about
four minutes over the hour and Olbermann said this would be a regular occurence.

The voice will be silenced no more. Current TV has announced that its new show with Keith Olbermann will debut on June 20 at 8 p.m.

The show, to be called “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” marks the return to the airwaves for Olbermann, one of journalism’s most provocative and outspoken voices and hero of the liberal left. Olbermann’s decision to join Current was announced in February, shortly after he had a not-so-amicable parting with MSNBC.

In addition to executive producing and hosting his show, Olbermann was appointed as Current’s Chief News Officer.

“’Countdown to Keith Olbermann’ will showcase the return to television of one of America’s most gifted thinkers and communicators,” said Joel Hyatt, co-founder and Executive Vice Chairman of Current in a press release. “Keith will be back, speaking truth to power and calling them as he sees them — but this time, on America’s only independent news and information TV network.”

“The show will combine familiar and popular features with some new elements that we can’t wait to unveil,” said Mark Rosenthal, CEO of Current. “We’re creating a great platform for Keith’s style, which includes a very sophisticated digital presence for him — that we think will appeal to his very enthusiastic and active following. The show will also appeal to new viewers tuning into Keith for the first time.“

Current, which was founded in 2005 by Al Gore and Hyatt, is counting on Olbermann to out the cable channel on the map. Current is distributed in more than 75 million households around the world, but has failed to build much buzz until now.

In a stunning late development, MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann has been ousted by the cable news channel. And he’s gone without much of an explanation.

MSNBC just released this terse statement:

MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.

MSNBC announced that “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell would replace “Countdown” at 8 p.m., with “The Ed Show” with Ed Schultz taking O’Donnell’s slot at 10 p.m. Olbermann did not discuss any future plans, but NBC executives told the New York Times that one term of his settlement will keep him from moving to another network for an extended period of time.

In a closing out his final show, Olbermann offered no explanation for his departure. He thanked his viewers for their enthusiastic support of a show that had “gradually established its position as anti-establishement.”